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TIL of Palenquero, a Spanish-based creole spoken in the Colombian town of San Basilio de Palenque that mixes Spanish with Kikongo, a language spoken in the Congo region of Africa. It is the last Spanish-based creole language of its kind in Latin America.

by whatilearned May 28, 2022, 10:18 pm

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TIL mutilation practices (e.g. cutting of hands etc.) did not just occur in the Congo Free State under Leopold II but also in British Sierra Leone, German Kamerun and French Equatorial Africa

by whatilearned May 7, 2022, 4:50 pm

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The evolving image of the European in African art from antiquity until the 19th century: from Roman captives in Kush, to Portuguese traders in Benin, to Belgian colonialists in Congo.

by HistoryBuff April 12, 2022, 12:32 pm

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TIL: Sum41 named their album “Chuck” after the UN Peacekeeper who got them out of their hotel in the Congo near a warzone

by whatilearned March 12, 2022, 12:13 am

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TIL that an entire soccer team in the Congo were struck by lightning during a game in October 1998. Despite the lightning strike killing the entire team, their opponents left unharmed.

by whatilearned February 16, 2022, 2:21 pm

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TIL in 2008, a mass riot occurred in Democratic Republic of the Congo after a football goalkeeper was accused of using “witchcraft” to win the game. After the police showed up, 13 people died in a stampede.

by whatilearned January 29, 2022, 2:09 am

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TIL the Democratic Repubic of Congo is the second largest country in Africa at 2,345,409 km2 (905,567 sq mi), yet it only has 2250 km of paved highways. The capital of Kinshasa is the largest city in Africa. While the population density of the county ranks 181st globally.

by whatilearned January 12, 2022, 3:05 pm

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Dag Hammarskjöld, 2nd Secretary General of the United Nations, was very likely assassinated by the USA, Britain, and Belgium – in 1961 his airplane shot down on the way to negotiate a cease-fire in the Congo. Why hasn’t this conspiracy received more attention?

by HistoryBuff December 3, 2021, 1:52 pm

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TIL about Operation Kitona, when in 1998 Rwandan/Ugandan forces highjacked 4 civilian airliners, flew them to an airbase in western DRC where they amassed 3000 troops, then took over the Inga Dams and cut off power to Kinshasa. Thus began the Second Congo War, second deadliest conflict since WWII.

by whatilearned December 3, 2021, 12:39 am

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TIL of the 2003 Congo Air Disaster, when upwards of 200 people were sucked out of the plane to their deaths when the cargo door failed.

by whatilearned November 15, 2021, 5:30 am

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A detachment of US Marines are conducting jungle warfare training in the Congo, and one night around the campfire, the Congolese troops they’re training with tell the Marines the tale of a cave in the middle of the jungle, filled with golden treasure but guarded by a fearsome monster.

by cringeyjokesman November 9, 2021, 2:04 am

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TIL that when King Leopold II of Belgium personally acquired the “Congo Free State” in 1885, it was 76 times the size of Belgium. He claimed the land at the 1884-1885 Berlin conference promising to improve the lives of the locals but ended up enslaving them to gather ivory and natural rubber.

by whatilearned October 23, 2021, 5:31 pm

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